Enduring to the End

If ye love me, keep my commandments.

John 14:15 

 Once we have been baptize and recived the Holy Ghost, we must stay in that path. Enduring to the end means repeating all the steps over and over and over for the rest of your life. 

In the picture above it shows how all the parts of the gospel are connected and how the atonement (Christ sacrifice) is the center of it all. If we truly have faith in Jesus Christ we will want to change and repent, when we repent we will want to make more covenants to be saved so we get baptize, after baptism the next step is reciving the Holy Ghost to help stay in the right path, and with that we can endure to the end, and we will see blessings in our lives and feel Gods love so we will have even more faith, and since we are not perfect and keep committing sins, we will keep repenting and instead of baptism we will take the sacrament and that also makes us pure and help us feel the Holy Ghost more and makes us want to start the whole cycle again. Now let's talk a little about what the sacrament represents. 

Before Jesus Christ was crucified, he decided to spend one more night with his apostles. To Jesus Christ, they where his friends, and that night after judas went to betray him, he decided to show them the sacrament.  "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.

And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it.

For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." 

Mathew 26:26-28 

Today Jesus Christ also makes that same invitation to us, by coming to church every Sunday and partaking the sacrament. In the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we take the sacrament the exact same way Jesus Christ gave it to his apostles. With that we renew our baptismal covenants, and it's almost as if we are being baptized again.  

Now once we keep the cycle going, most likely we will fall short, we all make mistakes and we are not perfect, but let us remember God is in our side. We can always repent, but we must never turn back. In second Nephi 9:24 it tells us "And if they will not repent and believe in his name, and be baptized in his name, and endure to the end, they must be damned; for the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has spoken it." If we make a sacred promise or a sacred covenant with God, and if we break it, then we will be punished by not reciving those promised blessing we had when we got baptize. 

Now that does not mean we can't ask questions and learn about other beliefs, we just have to remember the covenant we made, and make sure to keep it and not drift from it.

   "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake, but he that endureth to the end shall be saved." Mathew 10:22 

Before I graduated from high school, becoming a Christian was no longer a popular belief among my classmates. Many born Christians who would go to church in their youth, later became atheist or just became no longer active in their beliefs. It became so prevalent that a lot of my friends decided not to leave on a mission, or go into other religions where they would worship nature or satanism. Christians are being attacked and looked down upon by others. I remember so many times when I had Instagram whenever I would post something about my religion, there was always somebody who would put a negative comment on it. But we are not alone! God always gives us blessings for every commandment he gives us. 

"And blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion at that day, for they shall have the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost; and if they endure unto the end they shall be lifted up at the last day, and shall be saved in the everlasting kingdom of the Lamb; and whoso shall publish peace, yea, tidings of great joy, how beautiful upon the mountains shall they be."

1Nephi 13:37 

"Behold, I am the law, and the light. Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live; for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life."

3Nephi 15:9 

One of the best examples for enduring to the end is in acts chapter 7, when Stephen is defending his beliefs in Christ. 

In that video we watch how Stephen died enduring to the end. He did not deny what he believed, he only spoke the truth of what he knew. Are we willing to do the in that situation? Maybe we won't be threaten to have our life taken away. But that gives us less of an excuse to not endure to the end. We must keep working on ourselves, and the more we keep the cycle, the more we get closer to God. Yes sometimes we think there is better things to do, other than go to church and take the sacrament, maybe we don't feel we are ready for baptism. Others might think faith is just to much work, or that you are not ready to begin the cycle. If any of you reading this thinks that way, I invite you to read these two verses. "And you that will not partake of the goodness of God, and respect the words of the Jews, and also my words, and the words which shall proceed forth out of the mouth of the Lamb of God, behold, I bid you an everlasting farewell, for these words shall condemn you at the last day.

For what I seal on earth, shall be brought against you at the judgment bar; for thus hath the Lord commanded me, and I must obey. Amen." 

2Nephi 33:14-15 

I always know Jesus Christ is with me, even when I am not perfect and sometimes forget the precious gift he has given me, and wonder sometimes, I am not lost. Many of us has family or children that have different beliefs, some of them might not even believe in Jesus Christ. Whatever the situation might be, we have to remember, especially in this Christmas season, that Jesus Christ came and died for us, so that we may live again. We must keep having faith and we must keep repenting, we must be baptize and receive the Holy Ghost to show how committed we are, and after we must partake of the sacrament, to keep the Holy Ghost with us. I want to end saying, that I know God still talks to men, we are his children, and he loves each one of us, and wants us to return to love with him. He sent his son to die for us, and now we have his church again in the world. 

For more information about the Gospel of Jesus Christ please visit https://www.lds.org 
                                       

                                      

                                     

Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost

A gift from God to those who accept it

 We understand that the Holy Ghost is a member of the Godhead, but what exactly is the nature of the Holy Ghost? There is a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants section 130 verse 22 that says "The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s, the Son also, but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us." 

Also, in Galatians 5:22-23 it tells us what the Holy Spirit makes us feel, it says "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance, against such there is no law." The Holy Ghost is a gift from God that we receive after baptism by the laying on of hands as shown in the picture above. From these two scriptures we understand that the Holy Ghost is a spirit, that can bring us happiness. What are more blessing from having the Holy Ghost? 

There is one scripture that explains more about the Holy Ghost, in a book called "The Pearl of Great Price," which is more scripture that was revealed to Joseph Smith when he translated the Bible, that says " Therefore it is given to abide in you; the record of heaven; the Comforter; the peaceable things of immortal glory; the truth of all things; that which quickeneth all things, which maketh alive all things; that which knoweth all things, and hath all power according to wisdom, mercy, truth, justice, and judgment." Moses 6::61 

It that scripture, Jeovah is telling Moses what the Holy Ghost will bring, and he calls the Holy Ghost the comforter. He will give us wisdom, mercy, trust, justice and judgment, but also the truth of all things. That means that with the Holy Ghost we can know the truth of all things, we can know what's right from wrong and truth from lies. Another great scripture, is in John 14:26 "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." So anything that God has told us, we will remember, and it's a lot blessing, but why should we receive it then? Well it actually completes baptism and is necessary for our salvation. It also cleanses us of our sins.
                                            

 "And no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end.

Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day." 3 Nephi 27:29-20

I had the blessing of receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost when I was 8 years old, and I can share my testimony that it has always guided my life, told me right from wrong and has helped me stay out of trouble when I was growing up. If we want to live with God, receiving the Holy Ghost has to be part of our lives. Even if we haven't received it, we can still feel it in our lives, when we pray and read the scriptures. Being on my mission and asking people to read the Book of Mormon and to pray to know if it's true, a lot of times for some reason they chose not to. How else can we know if something really is true, if we don't pray about it? Have you prayed to know if your church or belief are true, even if you feel that you already know? Have you even prayed to know if God exist? If not then I invite you to do so. I remember still when I first prayed to know if the church my parents brought me to was true, and I really did feel the Holy Ghost, I felt it touch my heart telling me it was true, I invite you all to do the same. 

Baptism

                                                                           

Our first covenant with God

 On my mission, one day we found this very nice Christian man who invited us in. He explained to us that baptism was not very important to him. "I already chose to follow Jesus Christ, I already try to be like him. Besides its like me wearing this wedding ring, if I take it off I am still married to my wife, being baptize is just like having a wedding ring," he said. I then looked at him and shared a scripture in John 3:5 saying "Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." 

If you look at the gospel so far with faith and repentance, those two prepare us for baptism. It is. Perfect way to show our love for him. He set the example for all of us and we should try our best to be like Jesus Christ, like it says in 3Nephi 27:27 "And know ye that ye shall be judges of this people, according to the judgment which I shall give unto you, which shall be just. Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am." 

                                     

                                     

 God has always had covenants with his people, for example the 10 commandments Moses received. 

                                     

                                 

                                        

 A covenant means a sacred promise, and as Moses received these 10 commandments he promised he would obey them. The point is that covenants remind us to repent, in Doctrine and Convents section 20:37 it says "All those who humble themselves before God, and desire to be baptized, and come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits, and witness before the church that they have truly repented of all their sins, and are willing to take upon them the name of Jesus Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end, and truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins, shall be received by baptism into his church." Covenants, like baptism, have not changed.

                                       

                                       

 Finally baptism is our passport to heaven, there is no other way to get there unless we are baptize by his name and with the right authority. You could argue that Ephesians 2:8 it says"For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." But when we read John 3:5 Jesus Christ clearly says we need to be baptize In order to get inside the kingdom of God. Baptism is how we apply grace to our lives. I would like to end with a scripture in the Book of Mormon Nephi 31:5 "And now, if the Lamb of God, he being holy, should have need to be baptized by water, to fulfil all righteousness, O then, how much more need have we, being unholy, to be baptized, yea, even by water!"

Let's be baptize, by the right authority, and if we obey we will be one more step ahead than we where before.

Repentance

     

Repentance does not mean big or large changes at once

When we study the gospel of Jesus Christ we learn how He wants us to repent and follow him. Many have changed their ways and views because of the bible and Book of Mormon. Part of faith is change and even when we feel that faith is not enough to change ourselves or others then I invite you to re think what faith is. In Mathew 4:17 he says "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." 

To be in the kingdom in heaven we must repent and change, it is good to believe but if we truly have faith then we must change to be with him. He will always love us no matter who we are but to show our love for him, we must make those sacrifices. 

Repentance can be hard especially if we have to make big sacrifices, but something I learned is that repentance has six parts. The first one is recognize that what you are doing is wrong. 

 We are all humans and sometimes we can be stubborn on the actions we do. When I was in junior high school, bullying was one of the biggest problems in our school, same with cheating on tests and starting rumors about others. Now I was one of the people who just loved rumors, I would even start some myself. But it came to a point where I really did hurt one of my friends and I realized that what I was doing was wrong, that it was a bad choice. We must learn to watch our own actions, are we doing something to someone that it would look right in the eyes of others? Am I doing this to help only myself? Am I doing it out of anger? Is it something I would like to be done to me?

The second step is to stop. 

   One of the experiences Jesus Christ had while he was in Jerusalem was about a woman who the Pharisees brought to Jesus Christ. She had committed adultery and accounting to their law  (the law of Moses) she was to be stoned to death. As they where asking him he then said "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." As the multitude left he told the woman he would not condem her either and to sin no more. John 8: 1-11.  

    The third step is to confess

    Letting our Heavenly Father know about our sins is not a weakness but it is a strength. He knows what we have done and he just wants us to confess so that we can repent and become whole again. Even when we feel that it is the same sin over and over again, we must  always confess otherwise the rest of the repentance process will not work. 

 The fourth step is to make restitution 

  

 If we steal we must give it back. We need to do whatever we can to make things right again. We need to correct all the problems we have caused. 

   The fifth step is to keep Gods commandments 

  

    Keeping the commandments of God will give us strength to overcome any problems we might have. Jhon 14:15 "If ye love me, keep my commandments." We must show Jesus Christ and God our love toward them by keeping their commandments. This includes living the gospel, giving service, forgiving others and attending church meetings.

   The sixth step is to acknowledge the savior 

   John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Repentance is a realization to recognize that we can become whole again because of Jesus Christ. If we feel that our sins are to great or that God will not forgive you, then I ask of you to think again. Jesus Christ will always has his hand towards us to help us stand up. And if we truly repent then we will be filled with happiness and joy again. 

God wants to forgive our sins, we can read the story of Alma in the Book of Mormon, how somebody trying to destroy the church of God was stopped by an angel and later repented and he became one of the biggest prophets in the Book of Mormon. Same with the apostle Paul, he was forgiven for all that he did and because of him, he could travel around preaching about Jesus Christ. In Mathew 5:13 we read "But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." And in Alma 38:14 "Do not say: O God, I thank thee that we are better than our brethren; but rather say, o Lord, forgive my unworthiness, and remember my brethren in mercy, yea, acknowledge your unworthiness before God at all times." 

We must all ask for forgiveness, and God promises us he will reach his hand down for us. 

Having Fatih in Jesus Christ

    Jesus Christ has been one of the most popular teachers this world has ever had. His teaching and parables have been popular for the past 2000 years! Many have used his teaching in their lives and their families at home. Many of the stories of the bible prophesy of his coming. And after his death many Christian churches have been made from his teachings that have changed people's lives and encourage many to follow his teachings. But what was the main point he wanted us to learn? What was his gospel? 

                                      

        The first step before we should even study about Jesus Christ is having faith in him. Me being born in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I always had that faith and I could see it in my parents as well. But what is faith? I always like to connect faith with an orange. If we see an orange and we want to peel it, what can we hope will be inside? Of course the juice of the orange would be the right answer, even if we can't see it we know it will be inside there. Many think faith is similar to hope, but the difference is that faith is something we will know for sure will happen or has happen, hope is an expectation or desire for something to happen. It also gives us a connection with God, in the bible on James 1:5-6 it says "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed." If we truly want to have that faith and that knowledge knowing for a fact that Jesus Christ lived we must asked God. Otherwise we can be in other faiths being driven back and forth. Another reason why faith plays a huge role in the gospel is because it leads towards action. 

   

                                     

      When Jesus Christ called his apostles, being fisherman and having little experience preaching, they had to exercise their faith in following him. One of the most famous stories that played a big part in the New Testament of the bible was Saul. We learn that Saul attacked the church of Jesus Christ. He persecuted the saints until he had that change where he realized what he was doing was wrong, later on he changes his name to Paul. Another example of action by faith is in the Book of Mormon. Where it talks about a family who their father was a prophet called Lehi. He was then commanded to leave Jerusalem and go to the wilderness since the Babylonians where gonna attack Jerusalem. Their son called Nephi, in the book of Nephi chapter 17 verses 8 and 9 it says "And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto me, saying: Thou shalt construct a ship, after the manner which I shall show thee, that I may carry thy people across these waters. And I said: Lord, whither shall I go that I may find ore to molten, that I may make tools to construct the ship after the manner which thou hast shown unto me?" As we see in these scripture, Nephi having that faith and trust with God helped him have the courage to build a ship witch he had no expiriance building one before. 

  

      

    Because of his faith in God he managed to succeed even when his brothers did not support him, and he managed to get his family to the American continent and start a civilazation there. If we have faith is Jesus Christ then it should be natural for us to apply what he teaches. Many feel like being saved by grace is enough but in James 2: 17-18 it says "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works." Many of the other topics of his gospel including repentance, baptism, gift of the Holy Ghost that will be a topic latter on in the blog, are the works James is talking about. 

    Another reason why faith is necessary is because it helps us see miracles. 

      

  People sometimes refuse to have faith unless they see or expiriance a miracle. Before I became a missionary I talked with a couple of atheist, ex Christian and people who fell alway from their faith. They all claimed I was lost since I had faith for something I did not see or touch. I will be honest having faith takes a lot of personal strength, but something that I could always remember and come back to was an expiriance when I was a child and lived in Guatemala. For me being a child and having a pet meant everything. My little brother had won a small chick that latter became a roster. I loved that rooster, me and my family would feed it and it pretty much became part of the family. One day as I stayed at my grandmas house, we brought the rooster and we decided to put it in the backyard next to the pool. Before I went to sleep I had a feeling I should check on the rooster. I asked my grandma "can you check on him?", she then would say "I'm sure he is fine don't worry just get ready to sleep." However I keeped asking until eventually she decided to go check on the rooster. As I went with her we found him inside the pool dead. I freaked out and we took it out and put it inside a bucket. We tried to see if we could wake him up but it was not moving since it drowned. I then told my grandma if I could pray at least. She said of course and I started to pray out loud, I asked that if my rooster could be okay but that it was Gods will of what he should do. Later that night I went to bed and my grandma put the rooster next to a heater so that it could dry. On that mormoning my grandma walked down to check on the rooster. To her surprised it was alive again! It was well and as I walked down to I was happy to see my rooster and it got to live a few more years. If God cares for a rooster that later on died, he cares about your salvation and about you, but you first have to believe and have faith. A quote I heard once was "what's a mob to a king? What's a king to a God? What's a God to an unbeliever who don't believe in anything?" You yourself might have seen a miricle and said you saw it without faith, well then how do we know it came from God? Maybe you say you don't need miracles, well then what will build your faith? And you are missing out on many things. Jesus Christ always did miracles because of the faith of the Jews and of the faith of the nephites, but first they needed to have faith. I invite all of you to keep finding that faith in Jesus Christ, because for his gospel having faith is the first step.